5 Years Later Shades of Blue Andrew Tsoi Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company University of Colorado Boulder (M.S. 2014) Heritage High School (Class of 2008) A LITTLE ABOUT ME › Born June 11th 1990 in Englewood CO › K-12 (Littleton Public Schools) – Runyon Elementary – Powell Middle School – Heritage High School › Clubs and Activities – Littleton Rotary/Interact Club – Destination Imagination – Club Inline Hockey – Varsity Lacrosse – Yearbook (Sports Editor) – National Honor Society MR. WARREN › Math teacher at Heritage H.S. – Advanced Algebra and Calculus › Key Lessons – “Use your imagination” – “Be creative” – “Think outside the box” › I chose to major in aerospace engineering my senior year THE LAST FIVE YEARS › University of Colorado at Boulder › Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering Sciences (ASEN) in May 2013 › Masters in ASEN/Structures and Materials in May 2014 • Clubs and Activities • Student Leadership Council • Student Success Center • Men’s Club Lacrosse • Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity WHAT IS ENGINEERING?

SCIENCE IS THE WHAT/WHY ENGINEERING IS THE HOW

Karman vortex sheet: repeating swirling vortices Boundary layer injection: injecting fluid into the caused by unsteady separation of flow of a fluid airstream to create turbulence such that more lift around blunt bodies. is generated along the wing. More lift means less fuel. Less fuel means more efficient airplanes. AEROSPACE ENGINEERING IS A BROAD FIELD

AERONAUTICS ASTRODYNAMICS LAUNCH VEHICLES • Aircraft technologies • Spacecraft • Space Shuttle • Military and civilian technologies • Space Launch applications • Ballistics and System/Orion • Aerodynamic celestial mechanics • 100+ others sciences • General relativity AEROSPACE ENGINEERING IS A BROAD FIELD

BIOASTRONAUTICS ROBOTICS SPACE PHYSICS • Human spaceflight • Planetary exploration • Heliophysics (sun) • Biological, behavioral (Mars Science • Earth atmosphere and medical space Laboratory - Curiosity) sciences • Autonomous vehicles (weather) • Design of payloads, • Communication (GPS) • Galactic science space habitat, and life support systems 10 NASA FIELD CENTERS TO DO THE JOB

LANGLEY GODDARD AMES THE CALL THAT CHANGED MY LIFE On Tuesday September 9th 2010, I was accepted into the NASA/USRP program. I would get the opportunity to take an entire year off of school to work at NASA. I was sitting at my lab station (right) when I got the call. Within a week, I withdrew my from my classes and was on an airplane to NASA Langley! NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER LANGLEY: MY FIRST ASSIGNMENT › I studied wake turbulence (white tails)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__pyxPb6gMc WAKE TURBULENCE: WHAT DID I DO? › Computer models (and lots of it!) – Trying to re-create real-life phenomenon with computer models so we can predict and improve existing airplane and airport designs! – How far back does the trailing aircraft have to be to avoid wake turbulence? COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS › Using calculus to predict fluid behavior around a body – NASA X-43: unmanned hypersonic aircraft – Formula One: effectiveness of rear spoilers › Allows engineers to predict performance before even building

Red means faster air flow Green/Blue means slower air flow EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION SUMMER ASSIGNMENT: NATIONAL TRANSONIC FACILITY WIND TUNNEL

WHAT IS A WIND TUNNEL? NATIONAL TRANSONIC FACILITY › A closed or open tunnel where air is blown or pulled around a small test vehicle using fans NATIONAL TRANSONIC FACILITY WIND TUNNEL: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

NTF CAN MATCH REYNOLDS NUMBERS FOR IDEAL FLIGHT CONDITIONS

› When wind-tunnel tests are performed at sea- level, the air is more dense than the ideal cruising altitude the airplane will actually fly at › Therefore, the Reynolds number must be changed to meet ideal flight conditions SO HOW DO WE CHANGE THE REYNOLDS NUMBER?

THE ANSWER: CHEMISTRY › We inject cryogenic nitrogen (liquid N2) into the wind-tunnel to cool down the fuel › Temperatures can go as low as - 2500F (colder than the surface of Jupiter!) › Sensor rake is used to measure temperature, pressure, velocity (crucial to understand turbulence in the test section) NEXT SUMMER: NASA GODDARD › Came back to CU-Boulder for junior year (2011) › Went to Greenbelt MD in May 2012 › Intern at Mechanical Systems Branch (Code 542) NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

› Greenbelt, MD (25 minutes from Washington DC) › Spaceflight Research Laboratory – Spacecraft (SC) tracking and data acquisition – Earth science data information systems (NOAA) – Also manages construction of SC systems › Space and Atmospheric Sciences (science) – Solar system and universe observatory

VIBRO-ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS ON JWST › Biggest risk for JWST is breaking during launch › JWST’s launch vehicle is called the Ariane 5 – It’s freaking loud (170 dB) – Death of hearing tissue at 180 dB › The sound field of the rocket engine can create lots of problems: – Rocket fairing noise transmission – Satellite structural/bus failures – Satellite instrument failures › My job: Build a better understanding of the structural properties of the satellite. ACOUSTIC TESTING (~170 dB!)

Sound is an acoustic wave. Air pressure can carry debris.

Engineers protect the satellite by putting a “tent” over the satellite to prevent dust from damaging the satellite during testing

Because the tent can “dampen” the sound, they have to crank the sound even louder. Crank it up! ERN CONFERENCE IN STEM 2013 I had the privilege to present my work at a conference in Washington DC There, I got meet Leland Melvin (NFL astronaut), Sylvester Gates (physicist) on string theory LAST SUMMER: NASA AMES NASA ACADEMY › Premiere leadership development and training program for students › Wore a tie almost everyday and interacted with NASA management (the guys calling the shots) › Still worked on a individual project and a group project INDUSTRY TOURS AROUND THE AREA › Company tours to: – SpaceX (LA) and Tesla – Google – Lockheed Martin – Boeing Space Systems – Monterey Bar Research Institute and Aquarium – Lick Observatory – Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Skybox Imaging – Digital Solid State Propulsion – Space Systems Loral NASA AMES RESPONSIBILITIES

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH: GROUP PROJECT: AEROELASTIC MODELING ROTORCRAFT APPLICATIONS › Computer models used to › Used autonomous quadcopters predict wing vibration due to to demonstrate feasibility of turbulence public transportation using quadcopter vehicles FINAL PRESENTATION We gave our final presentation to Code Aeronautics on our second to last day in August It extremely nerve-racking. Among the audience, included the center director, code-A chief engineer, and more (big named guys). It was different being the expert in the room. NOW: LOCKHEED MARTIN - ORION › Flight Software Engineering › Fault Management: deals with detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) of malfunctions onboard the vehicle › Systems Engineering: requires broad understand of various subsystems of the spacecraft (propulsion, power, communication, etc.) POST REFLECTION AND COMMENTS LESSONS LEARNED › Don’t be afraid of difficult challenges – face them! › You don’t need to be smart to be an aerospace engineer, you just need HARD WORK. › Strive to better than you were yesterday, but don’t compare yourself with the people around you. Only you can be the judge of yourself. › Work hard, but have fun doing it. › Be proud of what you do. THANK YOU › Andrew Tsoi Orion Flight Software Engineer Lockheed Martin Space Systems University of Colorado Boulder ASEN, AESys: BS/MS 2014 NASA Student Ambassador Cohort IV: LaRC, GSFC, ARC GET INSPIRED › Neil deGrasse Tyson – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU › CU Engineering – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Y6iH5Oank – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FJhWTa4S9E › A380 Flutter Tests – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImSuZjvkATw